Equinor ASA Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.30 (NYSE:EQNR)

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of 0.30 per share on Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th.

Equinor ASA has raised its dividend by an average of 71.8% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Equinor ASA has a payout ratio of 112.1% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Equinor ASA to earn $3.15 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $3.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 114.3%.

Equinor ASA Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE EQNR opened at $26.91 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $26.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.60. Equinor ASA has a 12 month low of $24.44 and a 12 month high of $34.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.88 and a beta of 0.84.

Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.44). Equinor ASA had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The firm had revenue of $29.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.35 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equinor ASA will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equinor ASA

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Equinor ASA by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 10,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Equinor ASA by 18.5% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Equinor ASA by 66.4% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equinor ASA by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 10,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equinor ASA by 3.8% during the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $541,000 after buying an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 5.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQNR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Equinor ASA in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America raised Equinor ASA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Equinor ASA from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $26.40 to $28.50 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Equinor ASA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, DZ Bank lowered Equinor ASA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.25.

About Equinor ASA

Equinor ASA, an energy company, engages in the exploration, production, transportation, refining, and marketing of petroleum and other forms of energy in Norway and internationally. It operates through Exploration & Production Norway; Exploration & Production International; Exploration & Production USA; Marketing, Midstream & Processing; Renewables; and Other segments.